Born in Nanchang, China, Kunlin He makes work focusing on redefining Asian identities, territories, borders, nationalisms, as well as Chinese masculinity in traditional art and philosophy. He is also interested in revealing the hybridity and heterogeneity of Chinese identities in the context of cosmopolitan regions, using the resources of East Asian traditional cultures and culture studies.
He received a B.F.A. in environmental design from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China in 2014; an M.F.A. from San Francisco Art Institute in 2016; and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2018. His work has been included in exhibitions at The Drawing Center (2018, 2019), Headlands Center for the Arts (2017), and Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco (2016), among others. He has been a finalist for the 2019 SFMOMA SECA Award and received fellowships at Headlands, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, MacDowell, and MASS MoCA. His works are in the permanent collection in BAMPFA, de Saisset Museum. He is also a writer who focuses on Chinese modern and contemporary art and his articles have been published in Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art and Artforum China, among other journals.
